Downfall of Hogwarts: The Only Ravenclaw
by DerpySlowpoke9779
Summary: Ida MacCleary is an average half-blood witch who couldn't be more excited for her first year at Hogwarts. However, upon arrival she finds that there is something very strange about Hogwarts. All the people around her are flawless and speak in a strange vernacular that's hard to understand. How is an unremarkable girl supposed to survive in this perfection? Find out in this satire.
1. To Begin With

My name is Ida MacCleary. I am a witch and a former student of the legendary school, Hogwarts. Now, for you other young half-bloods and muggle-borns reading this and waiting on baited breath for your letter, _stop_! I know this may sound strange, but Hogwarts isn't everything it's cracked up to be. It may have been a great school at one point, but a lot of things have changed there. Allow me some time to recollect my thoughts on the matter. I apollogize if some occurrences appear out of order because of my memory. Alright, let's start at the beginning shall we?

Eleven. That's the year every young witch and wizard with at least one magical parent looks forward to. Every day after their birthday, they wait anxiously for a letter from a big named magic school. I happened to be one of the lucky ones. My dad, a gnome exterminator, had raked up every sickle and galleon he could to get me in. Sure enough he did, and he saved my letter as a surprise for me. My acceptance letter from Hogwarts was the best birthday present I could ask for, or so I thought.

The very next day, we all took a trip to diagon ally. Needless to say, that was the most excited I've ever been for school shopping. Instead of getting pencils and folders this year, I was getting a wand, magic books, and my Hogwarts robes. My mom even let me get an owl. It wasn't so much for me to have a pet or anything; she wanted some means of hearing from me since she knew that muggle devices, like cellphones, wouldn't work in Hogwarts. By the time we got to owls, the budget was nearly squeezed out so I couldn't get a big owl. Instead, I got this little, gray puffball of a bird that I called Pipsqueak.

Everyday after my shopping trip I grew all the more excited. I selected all of the casual clothes I needed for the weekends and holidays, I started reading through my magic books, and I would even wear my school robes on occasion. I could tell that my five year old sister, Maddie, was also picking up on the excitment because she started jumping up and down on the couches and armchairs in the living room.

"Stop bouncing around like that Maddie," my mother scolded the hyperactive child, "You're going to fall and hurt yourself."

"Ida's a witch mommy!" Maddie exclaimed, "Ida's going to magic school, isn't she?"

"That's right, dear. I hope the first thing she learns is to bottle her excitement. Honestly, the two of you have been acting like march hares the past few days," mom replied as she continued working on her laptop.

"I can't help it mom! I'm finally going to learn magic and not boring old math!" I squealed, "And I can't believe that I'm going tomorrow!"

"Magic school! Magic school!" Maddie continued jumping on the couch.

Mom was getting visibly irritated, "That's quite enough you two! Unlike your father, I have to make a normal muggle living to pay the bills! If you're both going to run around all willy-nilly, please take it outside!"

There was a loud crack and Dad apparated into the kitchen. Mom let out a yelp and fell out of her chair in surprise.

"I'm home!" he announced. He looked down at my mother on the floor and chuckled, "Sorry Marion. Did I give you a start?"

"I thought I told you not to do that in the kitchen!" Mom responded indignantly.

Dad responded with a throaty laugh, "I thought after fourteen years, you'd be used to it!"

"Daddy! Daddy!" Maddie pranced over to Dad, "Ida's going to magic school tomorrow, isn't she?"

"Right you are, you little beastie," my dad gave Maddie an affectionate poke on the tummy. She gave a snorty giggle in response.

"Dad, are there any spells you know that would make time go faster?" I asked him anxiously, "I don't know how much more I can wait!"

"I'm afraid there isn't any sort of magic like that, Ida," he put a gentle hand on my shoulder, "You're just going to have to be patient."

"I know," I replied in a huffy way, "It's just so hard."

"I know exactly how you feel," he said, "I remember when I turned eleven and got my letter. I would have bounced off the walls if I had stopped floating to the ceiling. I couldn't come down that night, so my dad had to tie me down to the furniture at dinner time!" I couldn't help but giggle at my dad's silly story. Maddie, of course, was laughing hysterically.

"Done!" Mom closed her laptop, "I'm going out to get these printed. Could you get dinner started Charles?"

"Not to worry, milady," Dad tapped his nose in a mischievious way, "chef Charles is in charge!" Mom gave a curt giggle at my dad's silliness before she left.

"Daddy, can I help cook?" Maddie pleaded.

"Sure you can," Dad replied, "Go get the biggest pot you can find. We're making chicken soup tonight."

"Are you going to use magic to cook again?" I questioned, "You know you made the chicken explode the last time."

My dad gave me his usual, reassuring smile, "Don't worry so much Ida. I wouldn't dare botch your last meal before going to Hogwarts," we began to hear various hoots and twitters coming from my room upstairs, "In the mean time, why don't you let that bird of yours out of its cage? Owls get restless if they don't get any exercise."

I ran upstairs to my room. Normally my floor would be covered with dirty clothes, but my excitement motivated me to clean up for once. I kept my owl in a little cage on my desk. Sure enough, he was fluttering against the bars and biting at the door. I opened the cage and Pipsqueak came hopping out onto some old _Daily Prophet_ newspapers. He cocked his head curiously at the moving pictures and started pecking at them. I stroked his fluffy, gray head and he began to nibble at my fingers affectionately. He suddenly stopped and let out a long screech. I looked over at my window and saw my dad's horned owl, Thomas, perched at my window sill with some letters in his beak.

Against Pipsqueak's will, I let Thomas inside. Thomas is kind of an old owl, but is as sharp as any youngster. If owls have personalities, which I believe they do, Thomas would be the polar opposite of my dad. Instead of being goofy and silly, Thomas is a serious and dignified bird. Pipsqueak, being a smaller owl, was intimidated by Thomas and showed it by poofing out his feathers and screeching.

"Now you stop that, Pipsqueak! Thomas is a friend!" I scolded my little bird, "He wouldn't lay a talon on you, right Thomas?" Thomas looked down at my screeching owl and promptly looked away. If an owl could roll its eyes, Thomas would have done that. He dropped the letters in my lap and fluttered away downstairs.

Although Thomas is a very sharp bird, he has grown a touch lazy in his old age. Rather than give the letters to their proper recipiant, he opted to give them to the first person he saw once he reached his destination. This was the habit that convinced Mom that I needed my own owl.

I stroked Pipsqueak's gray head to calm him down, "You're going to have to get used to larger birds, I'm afraid. We're going to Hogwarts together, you know. I'm sure once you get over this fear, you'll have great fun. Hogwarts is going to be fantastic!"

That last statement, of course, would be dead wrong.


	2. My High Expectations

I had hardly slept a wink the prior night. The excitement bubbling in my stomach kept me awake. For the brief moments I did sleep, I dreamt about arriving at Hogwarts, meeting new friends, and learning all sorts of fun spells. We got up bright and early that morning and, despite having little sleep, I couldn't be more awake.

To my dad's chagrin, we decided to take the car to King's Cross Station. It's a bit of a long drive from my house, about fourty-five minutes maximum, and to me the time couldn't go slower. The whole way there, Mom went over rules and concerns for me as she drove. I would always respond with a "Yeah" or a "Got it", but I didn't pay too much attention. My head was planted firmly in the clouds as I watched trees and buildings pass us by. I couldn't stop wondering about the house I'd get into and such. When we finally arrived at King's Cross, I barely gave the car time to park before I leapt out of my seat like it was on fire.

"Careful, Ida," Mom chuckled a little, "At least give me a moment to park before you jump up like that," she turned and shook my snoring dad awake, "Charles, we're here."

My dad groaned and stretched his arms, "Took you long enough. I still say I should've apparated her. That way we wouldn't get up so ungodly early."

"Well, I think we should all be here to send Ida off. After all, I wouldn't miss this for the world," Mom unbuckled Maddie's carseat, "Maddie dear, you have to get up. We're at the train station, honey."

Maddie was obviously in no mood to be walking around. It was far too early for the little dickens, and she was already starting to get crabby.

I felt ready to shoot out of my skin with all the anticipation. With all that bottled up energy, I began to get a little careless. I almost knocked poor Pipsqueak off his perch as I retrieved his cage.

"Come on! Let's go!" I squeaked, "I don't wanna miss the train!"

"Hold on now, Ida. You don't want to forget your luggage now," Dad loaded my bags onto a trolley, "After all, you wouldn't want to go to Hogwarts without any clean undies."

I let out a short groan at my dad's joke as he giggled away at everything loaded on the trolley, I pranced ahead into the train station. The rest of my family struggled to keep up with me as I bounded through the crowds of unsuspecting muggles. I almost ran into other people's trollies a number of times, but somehow, I made it in between platforms nine and ten unscathed.

"Here we are then," Dad said, "Platform nine and three-quarters is just beyond that wall. You want to give it a bit of a run, though, if you want to get through."

"I know, Dad. Don't worry," I replied.

"Ida," Mom said hesitantly, "I know this seems like an odd question, but do you remember your first day of Kindergarten? You remember how you couldn't let go of my hand?"

"No, it was you who wouldn't let go of me," I corrected.

"Ah, I see your memory is sharper than mine," she looked away for a moment, "I guess I didn't want you to go. It's just that you were growing up so fast and now here I am... about to send you off."

"Mom, you're not going to cry are you?" I questioned.

She tried her best to compose herself, "Of course I'm not! After all, I wouldn't want to embarass you!" I opened my arms as a signal to be hugged. She took the invitation and hugged me as tight as she could.

The moment she let go, she looked me dead in the face with watery eyes and a quivering smile. It was obvious that I had to console her, "I promise I'll write to you every week."

"Yes," Mom quickly grabbed a hold of Maddie's hand to stop her from wandering, "Alright Maddie, say bye-bye to Ida. She has to go on the train now."

"I want to ride the train too!" Maddie whined.

"When you're older Maddie. Say bye-bye now," Mom tried to explain, but Maddie was already breaking down into one of her tantrums.

"I wanna ride the train! I wanna ride the train!" Maddie screamed as tears began to roll down her face.

Mom picked up my screaming sister and struggled to hold on, "I'm going to take this one back to the car. She's going to have a little time out!"

I waved one last goodbye to my mom. She returned it quickly as she managed to keep ahold of my struggling sister. My dad placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at his proud, beaming face, "Come on now. I'll help you with your stuff."

Dad and I took off running and went straight through the wall like it were mist. On the other side was this great, red steam engine chuffing and whistling as students boarded into its cars. I daresay it was gorgeous; one of the most beautiful machines I had ever seen. I could have easily stared at it for hours if I didn't have better things to do.

"Ida!" A voice called. I spun around and saw my best friend, Lauren, waiting for me.

Lauren is a pure-blood witch with a tall, wiery physique and blonde hair. She is also a year older than me. My dad and hers were best friends in school and thus it carried down to her and me. She had gone traveling for the majority of her holiday, so I hadn't seen her all summer. I was genuinely surprised to see that she had grown about an inch and cut her hair really short.

"Lauren!" I reached out and hugged her, "It's so good to see you! You cut your hair!"

"Yeah! Didn't you see it in the picture I sent you?" Lauren questioned.

I froze a moment, "What picture?"

"The one I sent with my letter yesterday? Didn't you get it?" She continued.

I have a bad habit of looking over little things when I get excited. I had been too busy thinking about school the prior night that I didn't even look at the letters Thomas gave me. "Maybe Thomas dropped it on the way here. You should know he's an old bird and tends to do that," I lied.

"Oh well. Anyway, yes, I cut my hair and you see these streaks?" I nodded, "They change colors based on my mood! Isn't that cool?"

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes to be polite. Lauren has always been into gaudy, little fads since the day we met, but I never got the appeal. "Believe me, if I had streaks like that, I think I'd look like I was wearing a clown wig."

Lauren leaned in and squinted, "What's that shiny stuff on your teeth?"

"Oh these?" I opened my mouth wider, "They're called braces. It's a muggle meathod for straightening your teeth. My dad wanted to fix my teeth himself, but Mom wouldn't hear of it."

"Do they hurt?" Lauren grimaced.

"Only when you first tighten them," I said, "The only real pain is that there's a lot of things I can't eat."

"You've got plenty of time for chatting on the train you two!" my dad urged, "They're almost done boarding!"

"Right," I grabbed my last suitcase, "Come on, let's go find an empty compartment."

"Way ahead of you!" Lauren chirped as she grabbed her bag.

"Do you got everything Ida? Your uniform? Spending money? Ticket?" Dad questioned as I started to board.

"Yes dad, I don't forget things," I reassured.

"Just making sure," he gave me a small kiss on the forehead, "Goodbye Ida. I'm sure you'll make me proud." He backed away as the conductor was shutting up the doors.

"Goodbye dad, I love you!" I waved to him.

"Ticket please," the ticket holder motioned. I gave him my ticket and he attempted to light it on fire. When the flames failed char it, he punched a hole in it and said, "Thank you, enjoy the ride."

"Ida, in here!" Lauren called from her compartment.

I trotted inside and sat next to the window across from her. Peering out, I saw my dad waving one last goodbye to me. I waved back enthusiastically as the train let out a long whistle. The train began chuffing louder and louder as the wheels started moving. While we were pulling out of the station, I noticed something odd. There were hardly any other parents there to see their children off. I shrugged it off at the time, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have taken it as a first warning sign.


	3. Flavorless

"I can't believe that we're going to school together at last!" Lauren said beaming, "By the way, what sort of wand did you get?"

I promptly pulled my wand out of my pocket and parroted off what Olivander said, "Hazel with unicorn hair, ten and a quarter inches, slightly bendy."

"Hazel huh? You don't even need my hair then," Lauren replied, "They say hazel is a moody wand, you know."

"I know, that's what my dad said," I put my wand away, "Fortunately, I think I'm pretty emotionally stable." My wand must have picked up on my excitement because it started vibrating like it was on a motor.

"I think your wand is telling you otherwise," Lauren laughed.

The concession trolley came down, "Anything from the trolley, girls?"

"This one's on me, Ida," Lauren said as I tried to pull some spending money from my pockets, "Two bertie bott's if you please."

"Just one actually," I corrected, "I can't have anything hard, sticky, or combustable."

"Alright then," Lauren said, "Make that a bertie bott's and a chocolate cauldron."

The moment Lauren recieved her candy, she foolishly took the first bean she saw. Predictably, she spat it back out, "Ugh! Clams! Of course it had to be clams!"

"What's wrong with clams?" I asked.

"While I was away in France, I had some bad clams. I was violently ill for a whole week! Needless to say, I won't be eating clams again!" Lauren chose a safer bean to cover the taste. She has a sort of quirk when it comes to resiliance. If she were to fall off a horse, she would get back on, but if she fell off and broke her arm, she would never ride horses again. Oh poor Lauren, I'll tell you what happened to her later.

I waited until the trolley had moved down to a different car before springing up and grabbing my suitcase. I rummaged through my mess of clothes before I found my best school uniform. I excused myself and changed in the lavatory at the end of the car. I came prancing back to my compartment and posed.

"What do you think? Don't I look great in this uniform?" I spun around imitating a model.

"You do know you don't have to wear school uniforms anymore, right?" said Lauren.

"Really?" I slumped into my seat a little dissapointed, "Well, my dad told me that you have to wear them during school hours. That's how he said it was like when he went there."

"Yeah well, a lot has changed since our dads went to school," Lauren replied as she gazed out the window.

I gnawed away at my chocolate, "What do you mean by that?"

"You know I'm bad at explaining things, Ida," Lauren's streaks turned a faded blue color (to this day, I'm a bit baffled as to what it means), "You'll just have to see it for yourself. Just promise me that you won't be upset when you see it."

"Why ever would I be upset?" I put a slight smile on my face, "This is Hogwarts we're talking about. We're learning magic. It'll be great!"

"Just-Oh, I don't know," Lauren sprawled herself across the seat, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little tired right now."

I pulled out a book to let my friend nap. Eventually, I too let myself doze off as my fatigue caught up to me. The train came to a screeching halt and shook me awake from my sleeping world. I pressed my face against the glass and saw the magnificant towers of Hogwarts standing proudly above the woods. Immediately, the excitement pooled back up inside me. "Wake up, Lauren! We're here!"

She rubbed her eyes and took one look outside, "So we are."

I didn't pay much attention to Lauren's lack of enthusiasm. I just grabbed my suitcase and bounded out of the train as quickly as I could while trying not to knock into anyone. I placed my suitcase on the first-year luggage cart and stood before a truly enormous man with a black, shaggy beard.

"First years!" he bellowed, "First years over here!" He took a large swig from his canteen. Whatever its contents were, it reeked horribly of alcohol.

I know this isn't a pleasant trait, but I'm a stickler for rules. I simply can't stand it when people up and flout them, and I'm not afraid to correct people when rules are broken, "Excuse me. Don't you think you shouldn't be drinking that while on duty?"

"Believe me," he hiccuped, "I need as much of this as I can get right now."

The stickler part of me wanted to accost the giant man further, but the more sensible part of me told me that it was a bad idea to argue with someone ten times my size. The last student left the Hogwarts express and all the first years gathered around the giant man. He took another swig before saying, "Alright then. Get onto the boats, all of you! Don't dawdle now! Come on!" His voice was completely unenthused as he herded us two or three to a boat. The boats floated out on their own once everyone was in.

I had one companion in my boat who, to put it lightly, looked too old to be eleven. She was incredibly skinny, but she had rather large breasts that were scantily covered in leather. Her face was pale and slathered with dark make-up. Her hair was black with purple streaks in it. It was also perfectly smooth especially compared to my natural scottish shag.

I tried to start up small-talk with the girl across from me, "Can you believe we got into Hogwarts? It's supposed to be one of the greatest schools in the country! I hope I'll get into a good house. Are you nervous about that too?"

"no. im gwoone bein slitherynene.." she replied.

I admit she was hard to understand, "I'm sorry? What was that?"

"I saeid im going to be iin slytherin.;" she repeated.

"Oh, slytherin," I asked, "Well, how can you be sure?"

"i have telelkneseis. I CAn see thea futuer." she said.

"Uh huh. My name is Ida MacCleary by the way," I continued to try to be friendly despite this girl's strange speaking pattern.

"i am Rosella Darkness Ebony Ravenson. Im gothic and i weara nothinng butj gothidc clothes. Right now im wearing black boots w/ spikes, black ripped up tights, a short leatherr skirt, and I got a black leather corset that shows off my bigg boobs. Iam waering a necklace that sais '666' on it. I'm waering purple eyeshadow that goeas with myh purplie eyes, maskara, and black lipstick. I've go t a cute nose stud and lotsof peaircings on my eaers." the girl across from me rambled.

"Yes, I can see that," I was getting annoyed with this girl's excessive details, so I switched the subject, "I'm a half-blood. My mom's a muggle who writes pamphlets for a living. She's a bit strict, but she's also very sweet. My dad's a wizard who runs his own little gnome extermination business. He's fond of telling jokes and silly stories about his childhood. I also have a five year old sister, Maddie. What's your family like?"

"My famile waas muggles and they were meain and abusive to mea. They wouldnt let mae go to school so i killded them with mah powers," she said.

I stopped talking to the strange girl then and there and proceeded to stare into the water. I was terrified now that I learned that this girl could kill me in a flash if she so desired. The whole boat ride, I was hoping I'd hit dry land before I could offend this girl. Fortunately I didn't offend her, otherwise, who else would tell this tale?

By the time we entered the castle, my excitement was a touch diminished and replaced by nervousness. I knew that the sorting ceremony would be quickly approaching and I had no idea what house I'd be getting into. At the time, I was hoping for Ravenclaw because that was the house my dad was in, but I wouldn't have minded Slytherin either since that was Lauren's house. As we gathered outside the great hall, we were greeted by a stern looking older witch with rectangular spectacles.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said she, "I am Professor MacGonagall, the transfiguration professor and head of the Gryffindor house. You are about to be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Showing exemplary behavior will earn you points for your house. Any rule breaking will result in a subtraction of said points. The house with the most points by the end of the year shall earn the house cup.

"We at Hogwarts like to keep things organized, so please be courteous and wait for your name to be called," Professor MacGonagall replied, "We ask for you to be patient. We must prepare the sorting hat."

Although MacGonagall had said everything with a firm, no-nonsense tone, I could sense a sort of reluctance or unwillingness in her voice in certain spots. I soon figured out why as I looked at the people around me. All the other first years, both male and female, had this uncanny similarity to one another.

Most all the girls were tall, slender, and had unnaturally large breasts for their age. They had flawless skin, which was covered with make-up, and had different oddities about them. Some had crystals on their foreheads, others had glowing marks on their bodies, there were a few with odd animals (like wolves and foxes and such), and a great many had strange colors for their eyes. If the girls weren't incredibly pretty, they were grotesquely ugly. I noticed that some of the ugly ones were being downright nasty to the pretty ones for no apparent reason.

The boys weren't any better. They were either big and muscular, slender with make-up on, or were, again, grotesquely ugly. I also noticed a strange pattern with most boys. The majority (meaning most all of them) were either boys with slicked-back blonde hair or looked shockingly similar to the legendary Harry Potter.

It was either one extreme or another with these people and it was nearly impossible to find someone in between. Professor MacGonagall motioned us to enter through the enormous oak doors into the great hall. It had been as my dad described it; the ceiling was decorated like a night sky and was sprinkled with glittering stars. The enchanted candles kept the hall well illuminated while never dripping wax on anyone. However, my attention was soon directed to the old, somewhat charred hat being set up an a small stool. The hat opened what appeared to be a mouth and sang a rather gloomy tune:

_Here I am, the old sorting hat._

_Here to sort you and that is that._

_However, I seem to do this for little reason_

_Because you all know where you'll be this season._

_Some of you will choose lovely Gryffindor._

_That's for those of you who will fight evil ever more._

_A Slytherin is what you'll be if you are gothic._

_You can angst and moan about your life 'til sick._

_Some of you may land in Hufflepuff_

_If you're nasty and ugly enough._

_Some of you may land in Ravenclaw, though that's rare._

_Most of you are too good at magic to even care._

_I wish there was more to this song, but there's nothing to say._

_Just put me on and confirm your place today._

We applauded the tattered old thing and the sorting began. Since my last name starts with 'M' I knew I'd have to wait a while before my name was called; however, the line was moving fast because the hat made his decisions as it touched a student's head. The pretty students wearing bright colors and/or make-up were put in Gryffindor, the pretty students wearing dark colors and make-up were put in Slytherin, and the grotesquely ugly ones were put into Hufflepuff. I would say that I had butterflies in my stomach, but I'd be lying; it felt more like a flock of hummingbirds buzzing around.

The line vanished away and my name was called. My heart knocked around wildly behind my ribs as I took shakey steps towards the sorting hat. I sat down and closed my eyes tightly, so I didn't have to look down at all those faces. The hat settled on my head for a good while and seemed to be pondering. Personally, I didn't want to know what sort of thoughts and memories it could be reading in my head.

"Hmm, interesting," the hat said thoughtfully, "You aren't powerful enough to be a Gryffindor. You aren't a gothic beauty, so you can't be a Slytherin. You aren't particularly ugly either, so you can't be a Hufflepuff. Yes, looks like I'll have to go with RAVENCLAW!"

Relief washed over my insides in one breath. I had made it into the same house as my dad and I couldn't be happier. However, that happy feeling was almost swallowed up when I looked down at the Ravenclaw table. Although the other tables, besides Hufflepuff, looked overcrowded, there was literally no one else at the Ravenclaw table. I sat down a little dissapointed and began looking for pictures in the grains of wood as the sorting hat sorted several boys named Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. I stopped my mundane activity when I looked up at the staff table. I froze in surprise as I saw that the man sitting at the headmaster's table looked exactly like Albus Dumbledore. I knew it couldn't be the real thing because Albus Dumbledore had been dead for years. I wish I had my small collection of chocolate frogs cards so I had something to compare this doppelganger to.

"good evenetig," he said in a vernacular similar to the girl on the boat, "begeor we begin our beginnig of the yeawr feast i would like to go ovefr a few rules." I tried to listen to the rules, but this Dumbledore look-a-like was becoming increasingly harder to understand. The only thing I could make out of the garble was, "Remember, your rival house is your enemy." or something of the sort.

The feast appeared on the table and featured a wide spread of delicious looking things. There were roasted pigs with apples and potatoes, slow-cooked beeftips in warm gravy, glazed legs of lamb, seared white-fish topped with a white wine sauce, roasted chicken garnished with herbs, an assortment of various greens, and puddings for dessert. My hunger became overpowering and I ripped a drumstick right off the chicken and took a big bite. I nearly spat it out after tasting it. It was cold and flavorless in my mouth, and it was almost impossible to swallow it. I tried some of the other meats on the table and it was all the same. Even my pumpkin juice lacked flavor. Most people would have lost their appetite at this point, but I was still very hungry and forced food down to sate myself.

Lauren sat down beside me and said playfully, "Hey there, little miss Ravenclaw. Mind if I sit here? The Slytherin table is awfully full."

"No, not at all. Go right ahead," I answered as I tried to swallow a mouthful of cold potatoes, "Gah! I think the house-elves made a mistake. This food doesn't taste anything like it looks."

"No. This is just the way food tastes around here," Lauren plucked off a chicken wing and ate a bite from it without problem, "You'll get used to it after a while."

"How can you stand it if it tastes so bland?" I asked quizzically, "This stuff is terrible!"

"It's not terrible at all!" Lauren replied, "You only think it's terrible because you're setting your expectations too high! Go on, try it without expecting a five-star meal." I put some greens in my mouth fully expecting it to be bland and I swallowed it without problem, "See? Was that so bad?"

"I guess not," I replied, "I would still like something better than this, though."

Lauren shook her head, "You have a lot to get used to, then."

I told her I was getting tired and left the Great Hall. If truth be told, my stomach was feeling a bit upset because of the nasty food. I staggered out hoping to find a prefect who could guide me to Ravenclaw tower, but all the other first years leaving seemed to know where they were going. I suppose if everyone knew where they were supposed to be, there would be no need for prefects. Anyway, to find Ravenclaw tower I had to ask directions from the portraits. A kindly shepardess walked with me through the other portraits and led me there.

Like my dad had told me, the entrance into the Ravenclaw common room was through a wooden door guarded by a stone eagle. I had spent some time preparing myself for its riddles during the summer, so I felt ready. I knocked on the door three times and the eagle looked down at me.

"Oh a new Ravenclaw at last! Go right on in!" the door swung open for me.

"Aren't you going to ask me a riddle?" I asked.

"Normally I would but it's been frightfully lonely up here lately!" the eagle replied, "I'll give you a riddle next time if you want one."

I walked into the common room and all of my stuff was waiting there for me. The rest of the common room had fallen into a state of neglect. Everything other than my luggage was covered with dust and cobwebs. There was an abandoned bird's nest in the chiminey, the blue satin walls were faded, and all the figures had left their portraits barren. All the dust in the air was irritating my eyes and making me cough. I dug through one of my suitcases desperately looking for my allergy medicine. In all the commotion, I woke up Pipsqueak who responded with a hoot.

"Well this is it, Pipsqueak," I picked up his cage and showed him around the room, "Home sweet home," Pipsqueak seemed disinterested in his surroundings. He looked up at me and twittered, "I bet you want your dinner, don't you? You'll have to be patient though, I need to carry everything upstairs."

I took Pipsqueak and one of my suitcases upstairs to the girl's dormitory. As I predicted, it was as gloomy as the common room. The curtains that were once blue had faded to a shade of gray, the windows were so caked with filth that only a dim amount of light got through, the dust was so thick on the floor that I made footprints, and I swear I heard a rat scuttling about somewhere. Pipsqueak also seemed irritated with his surroundings as he kept shaking dust off his feathers. This did not help my allergies one bit.

"I'll get your dinner in a minute," I said as my nose started to drip, "I need to get my nighttime medication first."

Pipsqueak would not stop hooting and twittering as I gathered the rest of my stuff and took my medication. He finally quieted down when I got out some dead mice preserved in a charmed jar. I opened his cage and gave him a mouse. Pipsqueak snatched it right out of my hand and swallowed it down.

"You like that don't you?" I fed him another mouse, "I wish I could say the same about my dinner. I wonder what sort of flavor these mice have?" I shuddered at the thought of actually eating a mouse.

Once Pipsqueak ate his fill I washed my hands and made up my bed. The mattress kicked up a thick cloud of dust as I unfolded it, causing another coughing fit. I finally got my bed set up and I washed up. Despite having taken a shower, I didn't feel clean in the slightest. It's not an easy task to fall asleep with an upset mind and stomach, but my allergy medicine kicked in and I blacked out.


	4. First Day

As you may have noticed by now, my memory is rather sharp. In fact, I pride myself with having an exellent photographic memory. I'm able to remember past events down to tiny details. My dad calls me the human rememberall because of it. However, even with my memory, some of my Hogwarts days get a little fuzzy. You'll see why a little later, but for now, this is the last day I remember clearly which was, ironically, my first actual day of school.

I remember waking up somewhat early that morning because my allergies were acting up again. The congestion was suffocating me, so I had to get up and take my morning medicine. While I was waiting for my medicine to start working, I decided to open a window to let some air in and take some dust out. Of all the awful things that would happen to me, I admit, this was actually something beautiful.

My dad told me that you can get the best views from Ravenclaw tower, and he wasn't joking. The sky was this beautiful, blazing color and it was contrasted by these deep, purple clouds with bright pink underneath. The horizon was lined with the black silhouettes of the trees in the forbidden forest and the inky color of the lake. The grass had this pale green color and had the faint glimmer of dew where the light touched it. A temperate breeze blew gently through the window, carrying a slight sweet smell that comes with autumn. As a little cherry on top, I could hear the songs of the thrushes that lived somewhere on the grounds. I know all this may seem perfectly mundane, but some things are just more beautiful when you're alone in the quiet.

Another reason why I remember this day so well is because the next event made a ghastly contrast. I was in a pleasant mood once my allergy medicine kicked in. I got dressed, gathered the books I'd need this morning (charms, transfiguration, and potions), and made my way down the shifting stairs. My peppy morning mood was soon squandered when I reached the ground floor. I'm still surprised to this day that everything can go from pen-drop quiet to madness in under five seconds flat.

When I say madness I mean _madness_. I saw all the flawless people I'd seen from last night and more (it's awfully hard to tell the difference between them) all over the place making a horrible ruckus. There were some sobbing profusely for no discernible reason, there were couples in dark corners snogging away like there's not a care in the world, and a good many of them were fighting one another. These weren't petty little arguments either; this was full-on, gritty violence. There were spells and projectiles flying all over the place. Some of these poor people looked seriously injured, but I didn't have the nerve to actually go help them. Personally, I was more focused on trying to get to breakfast alive and in one piece.

Breakfast, as you can probably expect, wasn't much better and the issues didn't stop at the bland bacon and eggs. There was another couple snogging across my table and getting the bland food all over themselves as they tongued like animals. It was disgusting, and my stickler side simply wouldn't stand for it.

"Excuse me," I said politely despite my growing rage, "would you mind doing that elsewhere? I'm trying to eat breakfast."

The girl looked up at me with an annoyed expression, "shut the hellup you giinger prep!1!11111" The boy said something to espouse his lady friend, but I shan't dare repeat it.

I went the safe route again and scooted my breakfast away from the lusting duo. I was now safe from danger, but I couldn't help but stare at this raunchy show of affection. To get myself to look away, I turned around and ate breakfast on my lap. To pour a little more salt on this dreadful morning, an electric-blue fox began to take interest in my breakfast. Since my attempts at shooing the strange creature off failed, I had to hold my plate above reach with one hand and shovel cold eggs in my mouth with the other. It was utterly humiliating.

"Well that's a unique way of eating eggs," Lauren joked as she sat down next to me, "Showing that Ravenclaw eccentricity already?"

"Can you blame me?" I responded with a peice of egg dropping off my cheek, "I mean, how can you eat with that going on?"

Lauren looked over her shoulder at the snogging couple, "Oh just ignore it. They won't pay attention to you unless you bully them or praise them on what a cute couple they are."

"Your tolerance never ceases to amaze me," I placed my plate down behind me and rested my head on my fists.

"Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Something the matter?"

"This! All of this! It's like madness on top of madness all colliding in the air at once!"

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a teeny bit?"

"No because it's awful!"

"You'll get used to it."

"No I won't! How could anyone get used to that? It's outside any kind of reality! It just makes no sense!"

"Give it a week. This will all blend into the background. After all, this does happen every day."

"Every day?"

"Yeah. In a week or two you won't even notice it's there."

"I think I might go mental by then."

"You certainly will with that pessimistic attitude," Lauren got up and collected her books, "Well, I'm off to history of magic. If there's anyone in this school who can drive you mental, it's Professor Binns and his monotone."

My first class that morning was charms with Professor Flitwick. He is a tiny, eccentric man with a squeaky kind of voice, but at least he could form a coherent sentence. The moment I walked into class, Flitwick was at the door. He took my hand and shook it rapidly, "Good morning, Miss MacCleary! Welcome to charms class!" I was taken aback by such a formal greeting, but I still responded politely. I suppose he was just glad to see someone in his house with him being the head of Ravenclaw and me being the only one. If this were any normal circumstance, I'm sure I would have received the same informal greeting as the rest of the students. As I have stated before, all normality had been tossed out the window at this point.

Charms was an easy enough class. All you have to do is wave your wand in the proper motion and speak the spells clearly. I was successfully able to levitate a feather and change the color of a tomato. I was half hoping that the perfect people in the class would not do nearly as well because of their inability to pronounce the simplest words, but somehow they knew charms beyond what a first year should know.

"Yes Miss Angelus, I can see that you can do a patronus charm, but can you please levitate the feather like I asked?" Flitwick demanded. Most teachers would have been overjoyed at seeing a young student accomplish a full-bodied patronus, but I assumed that Flitwick had seen this too many times before and was just looking for obedience.

"Why shiould i?" the girl responded, "IM sooooo much better then that sthoupid spell."

Flitwick ignored that brazen comment and turned to me, "Miss MacCleary, can you show Miss Angelus how it's done?"

It felt silly having to show someone a levitation charm when she already knew the charms book backwards and forwards. I cast the spell and the feather levitated again. Flitwick cheered as if I had performed some feat of advanced magic. The girl ignored my spell and continued to make her patronus attack a Hufflepuff.

Transfiguration was the next class and it couldn't be harder. Rather than swishing your wand and saying the proper words like charms, transfiguration requires one to focus on exactly what you're doing the whole way through. The trouble with that is that my mind tends to wander while I'm performing tasks, so focus is a bit of an issue for me. Our first task was to turn a match into a needle. Mine turned out with the metal eye of a needle but with the wooden stick of a match. When professor MacGonagall came around to inspect my work, I was quite ashamed that I couldn't transfigure the simplest things.

"I'm sorry Professor," I said glumly, "I spaced out while it was transforming."

"That's quite alright, Miss MacCleary," she said calmly, "This gives me the opportunity to teach you how to revert a transformation when you've made a mistake." She taught me the spell and I repeated it, successfully turning it back into a match, "There now, keep trying Miss MacCleary. I don't want any more of this 'spacing out' as you call it."

It's much easier to focus while under the gaze of a teacher, but the moment she walked away, I would still space out while casting the spell. All the other students in class were able to turn the match into anything they wanted. Most of the transformations seemed impossible considering the size of a match. I noticed one girl turned the match into a boy and began snogging with him in the middle of class. MacGonagall tried everything she could to break the two apart, but nothing seemed to work.

Potions class was one of the worst all day. The class was being taught by a pale wizard with dark eyes and greasy, shoulder-length hair. The biggest trouble with him was that he spoke incomprehensibly like most of the students.

"ime snaape and iom heare to teach youpotions," he turned to a gothic girl (most likely Slytherin) and said, "Alesxandra, come up here."

The girl walked to the front of the class and the teacher started to passionately kiss the girl. The sight was vomit-inducing, and I had to bury my face in a potions book to just to look away. He then released her and went to be inexplicably cruel to someone else. This sort of behavior went on all class period without fail. By the time class was over, I hadn't learned to brew a single potion at all.

Lunchtime was full of the same madness as breakfast. There was still all the crying, snogging, and fighting from before. In fact, I swear that the same couple was still snogging across Ravenclaw table (which made me think that they hadn't moved from that spot all day). There was even that same blue fox from before, looking up at me expectantly. It probably went around stealing food because its owner was neglecting to feed it.

My classes after lunch were decent except defense against the dark arts. The teacher was a young woman who was dressed incredibly inappropriate for her age. Like in potions, this teacher also spoke in garble and didn't teach us a single thing. Instead there was some sort of drama going on all class period. I would tell you what it was all about, but the events that occurred left me utterly confused.

After this day, my memories get a little fuzzy because every day after that was very similar. When I remember another event, I'll post again. Please be patient while I try to gather my thoughts again.


	5. This is a Zoo

Today I was digging through my old Hogwarts stuff to jog my memory and I found the old diary I kept during my time there. Hopefully I can gather my thoughts and keep them organized. Here are the first interesting ones I found.

_September 9, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_Hogwarts has sure been weird thus far. The headmaster and some of the professors make no sense, the food is cold and has no flavor, and all the people look the same somehow. Despite all the nonsense that's been going on, I've been trying to find some logic to grasp on to. Fortunately, I think I found some. I'll write these down as lists._

_ Gryffindor: _

_ Female- unnaturally attractive, dress in bright colors, super powerful, every Gryffindor loves them. May have strange hair colors, eye colors, markings, and/or animals. May or may not have wands. May or may not be immortal. _

_ Male- tall, heavily muscled, will spill love to various females. Most seem to be clones named either Harry Potter or Ronald Weasely. May or may not be all-powerful._

_ All- Hate Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. Known to snog and defeat various dark wizards that enter Hogwarts at an alarming speed. Always amazing to everyone._

_ Slytherin:_

_ Female- unnaturally attractive, dress in dark colors, super powerful, wear heavy make-up claiming to be goth. May have strange hair color, blood color, eye color (mostly red, blue, or purple), and wear skimpy clothing. May or may not cry blood. _

_ Male- slender and wear heavy make-up. Most seem to be clones named either Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy. May or may not have dark hair. May or may not have bisexual relationships._

_ All- Hate Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Tend to be depressed for mundane reasons. Known to snog and cry a lot. Usually start the fights. Like muggle bands like Linkin Park or My Chemical Romance. Will call you a prep followed by obscene slurs if offended. May or may not be a vampire. May or may not take part in drugs and/or alcohol without consequence. Most people will bully them for no disclosed reason._

_ Hufflepuffs:_

_ All- inhumanly ugly! Hate Gryffindors, Slytherins, and other Hufflepuffs. Will pick on you for little reason._

_ That's all I really have to say for the students. Most teachers are okay other than Professor Snape and the defense against the dark arts teacher (it changes every day). As long as I remember this, I think I'll survive like Lauren. I always thought of myself having high tolerance for other people, but I guess I need a little more work on that._

_ September 10, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_It was our first Saturday at the castle and Lauren offered me a tour of the grounds. I whole-heartedly agreed despite the overcast and drizzle. She showed me the lake, the forest, and all that stuff. It was all the stuff I could see from my tower, but I still enjoyed the walk and chat._

_ A few other things happened while we were about. I asked her about the Dumbledore look-alike and stuff and she said that it was called a ret-con. Apparently a ret-con is a type of magic that erases all past events except the most desired ones. Another thing happened when we walked by the game keeper's hut. He staggered out drunk (I think) and started yelling at us. He told us to "stay off my property!" and "you're ruining the school!" and such. I asked her what that was all about, but she didn't know._

_ The most shocking thing I saw while I was out on my walk was the Quidditch field or what used to be the Quidditch field. It was just a vacant plot muddy land with just a few weeds growing in it. Lauren explained that since everyone was so good at Quidditch that games would last for weeks on end without either team scoring. Naturally, they discontinued Quidditch and razed the field. _

_ Now, I'm not a fan of sports nor am I athletic (I especially have a fear of Quidditch since heights make me dizzy), but it did seem awfully sad seeing the Quidditch field gone. I guess that shows just how much has changed since my dad was at school._

That last entry jogged another memory of mine that happened after I wrote it. Right after writing in my diary, I wrote a letter to my parents. I just wrote about how I made it into Ravenclaw and all the things I had learned so far. I didn't bother to tell them about the issues I was having since the entry fees were expensive and my dad worked hard for it. I opened the window to let Pipsqueak out to deliver the letter when I caught wind of a nauseating smell. I remember that it smelled somewhat like bad meat but worse.

Although the daylight was fading, I could make out the caretaker, Mr. Filch, piling something onto a cart. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could make out what was on the cart. They were bodies. I was absolutely horrified and slammed the window shut. I was afraid that the new spawn of dark wizards were going to find me and murder me in my sleep. I would have stayed up all night, but eventually my allergy medication kicked in and I was out like a light.

This is the entry I wrote the next Monday. This was when I realized that the murders weren't being caused by any dark witch or wizard.

_September 12, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_On my way to double transfiguration today, I saw something horrible! It started out perfectly normal (or at least as normal as things can be around here) with a large, pimply Hufflepuff girl harassing a Slytherin girl. The Hufflepuff knocked the books out of the Slytherin's hands and started saying derogatory things to her. The Slytherin then pulled out her wand and performed the dreaded killing curse. The Hufflepuff fell to the floor with a thud and never got back up. _

_ What was worse was that nobody around the scene seemed to bat an eye at it. Everybody continued snogging, crying, and fighting without acknowledging the dead body. Some of them even trampled over the poor girl's corpse like it wasn't even there!_

_ I tried to get an explanation for everything from Professor MacGonagall, but she didn't know what was going on either. I'm getting very frightened now. It's like I'm living in a zoo where they let all the animals out in one enclosure. All I know is that I don't want to die like an animal and I certainly don't want to live like one._

I remember that conversation with MacGonagall now. I waited until everybody had left the class until I approached her. I knew that she was head of Gryffindor, but I was sure that she would give me some explanation.

"Excuse me, Professor," I said nervously, "There's something I want to ask you."

"What is it Miss MacCleary?" she replied.

"I just wanted to know why everything is like this, why all the people look the same, why I'm the only Ravenclaw," I said.

Professor MacGonagall hesitated for a good while. She then looked at me and said, "I really can't tell you why. There doesn't seem to be an answer to any 'why's anymore. I'm sorry."

"Then can you tell me how this all started then?"

"I'm not exactly sure of that either. All I know is that all this started sometime after 1998, the year Harry Potter defeated the dark lord. We did have a few instances of perfect people attending school before then, but this was when they started popping up at alarming rates. The next thing I knew, Professors Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape were back from the dead without any explanation."

"They aren't ghosts or inferius?"

"Certainly not! They seem to be very much alive but changed. They can no longer speak properly and their behavior seems erratic."

"The ret-con?"

"I suppose that's what you can call it."

"So how about the last question? Why am I the only Ravenclaw?"

"You've been asking a lot of difficult questions today, Miss MacCleary; however I think I have more of an explanation for this one. Every year after 1998, we seemed to get fewer and fewer Ravenclaws. For the longest stretch now, we have had no Ravenclaws what-so-ever. The closest explanation I can come up with is that Ravenclaws are great thinkers. Students around here seem to operate less on thought and more on instinct. That, Miss MacCleary, is the best explanation for being the only Ravenclaw."

"I'm a Ravenclaw because I'm the only one who can think? That doesn't seem to be right. My friend, Lauren, has plenty of thoughts and she's a Slytherin."

"That may be true, but you're the one who's asking all the difficult questions today. I'm afraid that it may become increasingly harder to keep your head on straight at this rate. I mean, sometimes I fall into doing things without explanation myself," MacGonagall shifted the subject, "Anyway, you had better get going. You don't want to be late for your next class."

"Potions class with Snape," I muttered to myself as I walked out the door, "I could care less."

"Just one more thing Miss MacCleary!" Professor MacGonagall called, "Whatever you do, stay in Ravenclaw! Ravenclaws have been known to shift houses and they turn up the same as the other students!"

That's all I can remember for now. I know that potions class went the same as always. Snape snogs some girls and then is cruel to others for no particular reason. After that day, I would take MacGonagall's words to heart.


	6. Cellphones and MCR

I'm sorry to say that I neglected my diary a lot from September through December. The days were so monotonous; I just couldn't find anything to write. However, on the days I did write something they were short entries with little details. It's kind of funny in a way; when you experience the same madness every day, things get boring. Here's one I wrote in October.

_October 28, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_I'm getting upset with Lauren because of these past few days. She started hanging around with those stupid Slytherin girls, and I swear she's becoming a little more like them each time! I can't believe she actually went to a My Chemical Romance concert in Hogsmede rather than hanging out with me! I hope she realizes how stupid those girls and My Chemical Romance are! I mean, Chasing Dragons is obviously the cooler band! At least they're actually magical and not a stupid muggle band! Grrrr!_

Yeah, I know that Chasing Dragons is the magic equivalent of a boy band, but I was eleven then! What do you expect? Anyway, I suppose I should elaborate on what happened that day.

I think it was a Sunday when Lauren and I decided to go to the lake to practice transfiguration. It was a little chilly, but I needed to practice turning pebbles into beetles since I was going to be tested soon. I remember that we had been doing this for an hour, and my toes were getting numb from all the mud leaking through my shoes. Lauren was lying across one of the big rocks on the beach. She was sunning herself like a cat as she watched my less-than-stellar progress.

"Are they bugs yet?" I asked as I completed the spell.

Lauren looked over at my work and sighed, "Nope. Still rocks with legs, I'm afraid."

I quickly undid the spell, "Alright then, let's try again!"

"Maybe you should take a break. You're not going to get any better all stressed out like this."

"Take a break? But my test is going to be this week! If I don't keep practicing, I'm going to fail for sure! With everyone else being so perfect, I'll be the only failure!"

"You'll do fine. You're the smartest person I know."

"Smarts has nothing to do with it! Transfiguration requires skills! Skills I just don't have! Maybe I was better off in Hufflepuff. Nobody expects anything from them."

"Now that's taking it too far," Lauren hopped off her rock and came over to comfort me, "You're better than you give yourself credit for. So what if transfiguration isn't your thing? You're awfully good at charms for a first year."

"But everybody else can do more advanced magic than I can."

"Forget everybody else! You know how I was in my first year of charms? I barely skated by. More often than not, my charms would blow up in my face. I could say the words just fine, but I couldn't do the motions right at all. That's probably why I'm such a crappy artist too."

"Hm, maybe I do need a break."

"That's more like it! Let's go up to your common room and listen to the radio!"

"Are you sure you're allowed in there?"

Before Lauren could answer there was a faint buzzing coming from her bag. She put her bag down on the rock and pulled out, to my shock, a cell phone.

"Is that a cell phone?" my jaw dropped.

"Yeah, some of my other friends just texted me," she said typing away on it, "They have a spare ticket for the MCR concert in Hogsmede."

"MCR?"

"You know, My Chemical Romance?"

"How do you know who they are? How do you know what a cell phone is? How is that even working on school grounds?"

"You're asking way too many questions. Besides, everyone in school has one of these. Don't you?"

"No! My mom barely let me have an owl! What would make you think I'd have one of those?"

"I don't know."

"Anyway, are we going to my common room or not?"

"Sorry, but I have to get ready for this concert, so I'll see you later."

I remember going back to the common room by myself, feeling madder than a dragon in the rain. I was in a pretty foul mood for the rest of the day.

I know it's one of my less desirable traits, but I tend to be a little possessive when it comes to my friends. I have always kept about one or two close friends around me at a time, but I always became upset when they would choose another friend over me. In my older years, I came to understand that my friends would have other friends, but it still made me angry when I was excluded. I just wish I kept a closer eye on poor Lauren back then. Maybe I wouldn't have been so lonely later on.

_October 31, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_Tonight is the night of the Halloween Feast, and I could care less. Once again, the food looked pretty, but it tasted like nothing! That stupid couple was still snogging across the table, and I don't think they've moved since the first time I saw them. I am beginning to feel a little sorry for the blue fox, though. It's gotten so thin that I can see all of its little rib bones. I threw it a drumstick and that seemed to make it happy. I guess bland food is better than nothing when you're that starved._

_ What's gotten me really upset lately is Lauren. She's started hanging out with her new Slytherin friends more and more. She was actually wearing makeup when I saw her. I don't think that was just for Halloween either._

_ The feast is still going on downstairs as I'm writing this. I hope it ends soon because there's nothing I want to do more than sleep. I guess I'll just play with Pipsqueak for a little while. At least I know he won't end up with the perfect animals._

I remember that the weekends leading up to Christmas Holiday were becoming increasingly dull. Lauren and I would always start out by hanging out together, but then there would be that dreaded buzzing sound and she would always be called away. I would often spend the rest of my time in the library since it was one of the few places I could get some peace and quiet other than the common room. I actually found that I was learning more from the books in the library than I was in most of my classes.

_November 17, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_Today I read a book about magical creatures. The one animal that caught my eye was a thestral. Apparently they're invisible, carnivorous, horse-like creatures that can only be seen by people who have watched other people die. They're also said to pull most of the carriages around school and I'm sure that's what's pulling the body cart in the evenings._

_ So far, I've seen about fifteen other students die in front of me, and I still can't see the thestrals. This is what's brought me to the conclusion that the other students aren't people at all. They look kind of like people and do some human things, but they aren't people at all. I'm certain that there's some sort of dark magic behind all this, but I just don't know what yet. I'm tempted to look in the restricted section for something like this, but I don't want to get in trouble. I think I'll ask Flitwick about it the next time I see him._

Professor Flitwick soon became my confidant after Lauren started to leave me. He was one of the teachers who made sense and he practically invited me to talk with him.

I remember approaching him on the subject after double charms had finished, "Professor, can I ask you something?"

"Certainly, Miss MacCleary," he responded cheerfully, "Your questions are always anticipated."

"I just wanted to know if there was a charm that brought dolls to life or something," I asked

"You can't make life with charms. You can transfigure non-living things into living ones, but you can't make people. The only thing I know that is close to that is a homunculus which is made through alchemy, but alchemy is a very rare skill. What brought this question, Miss MacCleary?" He replied.

"All the other students here aren't people! I'm sure of it!" I answered bluntly.

Flitwick furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief, "That's an awfully shrewd thing to say! Five points from Ravenclaw!"

"No, you don't understand! Haven't you noticed how everyone here is absolutely perfect?"

"It's true that we've had a large crop of talented students over the past few years, but there's no need for you to be jealous. Trying to teach them has become a bit of a bore considering that there's nothing to teach them. Personally, I'm just glad you listen to me."

"I know sir, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's some dark magic at work around here. According to Professor MacGonagall, some dead professors came back to school one day perfectly alive but changed."

"Yes, that's been a mystery among the staff for a while now, but there's nothing we can do about it. We have to maintain the school, after all, for people who want to learn, like you."

"It's awfully hard to learn though, when your potions professor is off snogging with some girl rather than teaching class!"

"Professor Snape? Snogging?"

"Yes. Didn't you know?"

"Oh goodness, I hadn't any idea! I'll report this to Professor Dumbledore as soon as possible! You just run along to your next class now! I'll take care of this!"

I felt a little at ease after talking with Flitwick. Unfortunately for me, I don't think anything was resolved because the very next day, Snape would still do as he always does. He would continue to do that day after repetitive day.


	7. Christmas Holiday at Last

Christmas Holiday couldn't come soon enough. I had been literally counting the days down to when I could talk to people who made sense and eat food with a flavor. If truth be told, I was beginning to forget what flavor actually was.

The one thing I would miss from Hogwarts was the incredible views from Ravenclaw Tower. The windows were all frosted the morning I was going to leave for home. The moment I wiped the frost away, my eyes beheld a wonderland blanketed in white. It had snowed the night before, so it covered up the tracks of the body cart. There were still flakes of snow falling gently to the undisturbed ground. The flakes danced and flitted about in a way that kept my attention for a good while. It's almost magical, in a way, that the falling snow can create the illusion of perfect quiet and even a little joy during the holiday season. The one thing that broke me from my trance was Pipsqueak's twittering and nibbling on the cage bars.

I picked up his cage and propped it up on the window, "Look at that, Pipsqueak! Isn't that lovely?" Pipsqueak wasn't at all interested in the scenery; he just wanted me to feed him, "Alright, alright, I'll get you your breakfast."

The jar of mice was nearly depleted and was only down to two. Pipsqueak was a bit upset at that because he usually eats three, "I'm sorry, but that's all we have. If you hadn't been such a little pig up to this point, you would have more to eat."

I got dressed in a whole bundle of warm clothes because the tower had become quite drafty. When that still wasn't enough, I used the _incendio_ charm to re-kindle the fire from last night. Oh, this reminds me of the diary entry I wrote the night before then. I'm sorry about going a little out of order here!

_December 8, 2008_

_ Dear Diary,_

_Yesterday, I learned the incendio charm. That's the one that lights things on fire. You know, diary, fire is what proved I was a witch when I was younger. Whenever I wouldn't get my way, I tended to light things on fire. That's why Mom always had to do grocery shopping after my dad came home because she couldn't take me to the store and risk destroying something. It's a bit embarrassing, really._

_ It's also kind of ironic, in a way. People used to burn witches, you know. I bet those perfect students here would burn up nicely because I think they're made of wood. It would explain why they're so perfectly cut and don't have a single blemish on them because skin gets blemishes. I also bet they're hollow on the inside because some of them don't seem to need to eat. That would make them a lot easier to burn too. One of these days I think I'll try_

I stopped writing in my diary mid-sentence because my thoughts were beginning to scare me. However, that wouldn't be the first scary thought I'd write down. Some of my later entries still disturb me to this day.

Anyway, let's get back on track again. It was about noon when the bags were being loaded onto sleighs drawn by these beautiful, white horses. I remember a conversation between Filch and the games keeper. I had no one else to talk to, so that was what drew my interest.

It apparently started when Filch noticed the games keeper drinking as usual, "Get a hold of yourself, man! You've been drinking like a fish since the school year started!"

"I can't help it!" the games keeper slurred, "I need this to drown them all out!"

"What's so different anyway? I've put up with the same rubbish since I started working here!"

"It's not the same rubbish! It's not the same at all!"

"Who cares if the rubbish has changed? Rubbish is rubbish is rubbish, that's what I say!"

"I miss the old days, Filch! I miss the days where I could understand what they're saying! Back when everything was normal!"

"You're awfully hard to understand your own self. Now dry up and drive the damn horses!"

There were very few sleighs as there were very few people leaving school over Christmas Holiday. I was seated next to whom I assumed to be a Gryffindor girl. As the sleigh slid along, I was sincerely hoping she would ignore me like she would the rest of the year. Thanks to my streak of bad luck, she did talk to me.

"OMG!" she squealed in a shrill, irritating voice, "I totally can''t waite till Christmas! You no wht my parants are gioing to geet me? A CAR!11111111 I also know its gionng to be pink owith cool fuzzy seats on the insinde! Do you know howe I know that?."

"Let me guess. You're clairvoyant aren't you?" I answered morosely.

"NOOOOOO!11111 I m psychic!11 Thiers a differencde!" she responded. My knit-covered palm collided hard with my face.

That Gryffindor girl would not stop talking the whole sleigh ride to the platform. I tried to drown her out by going into my head; however, my thoughts would always go back to pushing her off the sleigh and onto the ice-covered lake. Fortunately, my goody-goody nature kept a resilient grasp on me before I could take any brash action.

It was quite lonely in the train compartment because Lauren decided to stay at school for holiday for some insane reason. That was fine by me, though. I was getting absolutely irritated with her. In fact, after that sleigh ride, I was perfectly pleased with having peace and quiet. I dozed off through the train ride and awoke when it came to a stop. I looked outside my window, and saw my dad standing on the platform, waiting for me. I grabbed my carry-on bag and ran out to greet him.

"Careful there Ida, you don't want to trip," he embraced me in a hug, "After all, you are my little Ravenclaw!"

"I missed you too, Dad!" I felt so happy that moment that I almost wanted to cry. It's funny how after a long period of sheer gloom, the littlest bits of happiness seem to deserve tears.

Finally, he let go, "Grab your stuff, dear. We're apparating home."

"Why? Did Mom not want to drive the car?" I asked.

"Actually," Dad hesitated, "your mom slipped on a patch of ice and fractured her wrist pretty bad. The doctor said she's lucky it wasn't broken, but it still hurts a bit I imagine."

"That's terrible!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know! I could probably fix it in a second, but no, she always wants to do things the 'proper way' as she calls it! I've been married to her for fifteen years, and she still doesn't trust magic!" Dad regained focus, "Now go grab your stuff. We don't want to stand around here all day chatting!"

I gathered my luggage as quickly as I could. I simply couldn't wait to go home. Apparating, although it's a quick means of travel, it certainly isn't a comfortable one. It feels like all the air is being sucked out of you as you're squeezed through a tiny space. I often get dizzy after traveling like that and sometimes I get sick. This time, it was only a brief coughing spell and then I breathed in the familiar scent of home. The smell of our houses is one we usually take for granted, but it's very comforting when you've been away for so long.

Almost immediately, I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around me, "Welcome home, dear." My mom then brushed a curl of hair away from my forehead and gave me a little kiss.

"It's good to be home, Mom," I looked over at her braced hand, "I'm sorry about your wrist, though."

"It's alright. The doctor said I'll be right as rain in a few months," she said.

"You can be right as rain right now if you'd just let me handle it!" Dad piped.

Mom gave him a reproachful look, "Yes, but I've gone my whole life without the aid of magic, and I intend to keep it that way, thank you very much! Besides, you might accidentally turn it into a parsnip or something!"

"Charm and transfiguration spells aren't the same thing, Marion," Dad said, "Even Ida can tell you that!"

At the sound of my name, there was a loud thumping sound coming down the stairs. Maddie ran into the room and started hugging my legs, "Ida! You're home! You're home!"

"Yes Maddie, I am," I rubbed her head between her curly, red pig-tails, "Could you please let go of my legs. I'm worried I might fall over."

The child obeyed and then started tugging my hand towards the Christmas tree, "Look at how many presents I got! Santa is going to bring me even more soon!"

"That depends if you've been good," I said slyly, "because Santa knows when you haven't been cleaning your room."

The smile was immediately removed from her freckled face. She immediately started running upstairs yelling, "Don't look yet, Santa! My room isn't ready!"

I grabbed some of my bags and started ascending the stairs, "I have some unpacking I need to do. Call me when dinner's ready."

I had barely put all my shirts away when I heard a knock at my door. My dad walked in beaming wide from under his reddish moustache, "I forgot to ask you Ida, how was school? Was Hogwarts as grand as I told you it would be?"

I made the mistake of answering honestly, "More like a grand mess if you ask me."

A look of concern crossed his face, "Well what's wrong with it? Come on, you can tell me."

"The problem is the people there," I flopped down on my bed.

"The people? Has someone been bullying you?"

"No, it's not like that at all! They just don't act like people! In fact, I don't think they are people!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's a little hard to explain, but they act too perfect to be people! I'm not sure about how much longer I can stand it! I don't even want to go to school there anymore!"

"Don't want to go to Hogwarts? But Ida, you were so excited at the beginning of the year."

"Things change, Dad! This isn't the Hogwarts you knew anymore! Please just pull me out now before I go mental!"

"Now you listen here! I'm not pulling you out and that's final!"

"But Dad, I can't stand it there at…"

"Do you understand how hard I worked to get you in there? I'd been saving up that money since you were a baby to give you the best education I could! Are you really going to pull back after all that money I saved for you?"

"You can just get a refund and I can go to some other, smaller, cheaper school!"

"It's not that easy, Ida! So you're going to stay in that school whether you like it or not! Am I clear?"

"Yes Dad."

"Good," my dad exited the room, "I had better not hear any more talk about wanting to leave, or else you'll be in serious trouble!"

It's a rare thing to see my dad that angry. Considering how much the entrance fee cost, it's not surprising that he'd react that way. If only my Hogwarts experience was like his, then I wouldn't have anything to complain about.


End file.
